


Happy Birthday, Chloe Price!

by ItsaVikingThing



Category: Life Is Strange (Video Game)
Genre: Domestic Fluff, F/F, Fluff, Humour, Lost and Found Outtake, To the Archive, from the archives
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-03-11
Updated: 2018-03-11
Packaged: 2019-03-30 01:05:52
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,413
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13939281
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ItsaVikingThing/pseuds/ItsaVikingThing
Summary: Chloe's life has been steadily improving ever since Max Caulfield came back into it. They're reunited, they're dating, and Chloe's working on building a career for herself.Life is good.Until Chloe turns 21, and Max gets a little...weird about it.





	Happy Birthday, Chloe Price!

**Author's Note:**

> Happy Chloe's Birthday, everyone!
> 
> Quick boring author's note/confession: I wrote this over a year ago. It was a stab at the third fic in my Lost and Found series. Buuuut it felt too goofy for that series and I decided it wasn't worth posting. I repurposed one joke and the ending of the fic in a couple of different fics and abandoned this one. I promised I'd do something in honour of Chloe's birthday this year instead.
> 
> Then I completely forgot. Then I remembered I had this. 
> 
> So! Here's a very early fic I wrote! With a fresh coat of paint, because it badly needed it...
> 
> HAPPY BIRTHDAY CHLOE! 
> 
> I'll try to get you a better present next year...

### March 11th 2015

Chloe Price is reading a book about tattoos at the kitchen counter in her tiny apartment.

Max Caulfield is sitting opposite her, watching her. She's normally incredibly supportive. But tonight...

"So...what's being twenty-one like?"

"Max..."

"I wanna know! This is a good learning opportunity for me."

"And I'm trying to learn from this book. Which I could finish if I had maybe ten minutes of hush?"

Max hushes.

For about a minute.

"Has it sunk in yet? Do you feel different?"

Chloe rolls her eyes, losing her place. Again. She glares at Max. "I do feel different. I feel  _annoyed_."

Max sighs. "It's making you cranky. I have a cranky girlfriend now. This is going to be so hard to live with."

Chloe fights down the little thrill she gets whenever Max says 'girlfriend'. She makes a show of groaning and tries to read the same paragraph for the third time. "Dude, you're being  _impossible_  to live with right now! As soon as I'm finished here, I'm yours for the rest of the night. What's got into you?"

Chloe has a notepad and a book Alexis gave her, homework for her tattoo apprenticeship. Max has been pestering her for the last half-hour, almost since she got through the door.

Now, as soon as the question's been asked, she shuts up. Chloe makes it through two whole sentences before the weight of Max's silent regard gets to her.

Chloe bangs her head against the open book a couple of times, then closes it over and scowls at Max.

She's sitting with her chin propped in her hands, watching Chloe with those wide blue eyes that make it so very hard for Chloe to stay irritated for long. Chloe knows she has a rapidly closing window to investigate Max's weird behaviour before those eyes thaw her and the prospect of makeouts melts her completely.

Chloe folds her arms, intensifies her glare and asks, "What?"

Max sighs again. "You're...really tall."

"Wait, what?"

"You could be a model, if you wanted." She lifts her head up, starts nervously clasping and unclasping her hands. 

"Uh, not really? Max, you are being so freaking strange."

Max is slowly turning very red. "Chloe. You're really tall. And you've got so much attitude. And you're really...I mean, you are  _so_..."

Chloe shakes her head. "Max, what are you talking about?"

"You're...beautiful, Chloe. Just...crazy beautiful."

Chloe's stunned. They've been dating for less than a month, and while it's not the first time Max has complimented her, it's never been like this. Max is bright red and Chloe's pretty sure she's in no danger of failing a Voight-Kampff test right now either.

"Uh, ah...thanks? And you know I think you're really beautiful-"

Max waves her hands, frustrated. "No! I mean it, I really do, but that's not the point! You could be a model, but you're just not interested. It's not who you are."

"Is that...bad? I'm so confused right now."

Max jumps off her stool and comes round the counter. She takes Chloe's hand in both of hers. Her hands are small, soft, warm and Chloe hopes she never gets over the wonder she feels every time Max touches her.

Max meets her eye. Her neat white teeth worry her lip. "It's not bad at all! I'm really screwing this up. I'm just trying to say that...it's like you don't care about a lot of the shit that other people obsess over. That's  _amazing_."

"Uh, Max, I'm a high school dropout with attitude problems. You're the rock star in this relationship. You're so goddamn talented and-"

"Chloe! That's...really sweet of you, but you're missing the point."

Chloe runs her hand through her hair. "Uh, maybe because you're not making sense?"

Max lets go of Chloe's hand, folds her arms and leans them on the edge of the counter. She drops her face into her arms and shakes her head. She lifts her head just enough to peep up at Chloe.

Her voice starts off soft, uncertain but gains in strength as she continues.

"Chlo. I know you're not perfect. No one is. We've all got our...flaws. But you are beautiful, and smart and you are working so hard to earn this apprenticeship...which, by the way..." Max blushes even harder. "It's, uh...when you get all serious about study and practice your art? Um...really hot."

Chloe gulps. Chloe is happy to take the physical side of things exactly as quickly as Max wants. Sometimes, though, Max will say or do something that will summon Chloe's libido from the darkest depths of her subconscious and force her to spend frantic seconds cramming it back down.

Maybe Max is having similar problems, because she looks away. They're both quiet for a moment.

At length, Chloe says, "Max? Are you...is everything okay?"

"Well, the thing is...today you turned twenty-one. A full, legal adult, right?

"Pretty much just means alcohol's more boring, but, yeeeah?"

"Well, I'm still just a teenager. And you're…you’re an adult. And way more experienced than me…"

Chloe looks at Max, pierced by her vulnerability. "Max, you're...we don't have to, uh, do anything that makes you uncomfortable. Ever. You know that, right? I don't know what this is all about, but-"

Max holds up a hand. "Chloe. You tease me a lot. And I...I just want to...I guess what I'm trying to say is...with everything I’ve just said about you…Chloe." She pauses, takes a deep breath, and steels herself. "Chlo...do you know how hard it is to find things to tease  _you_  about?"

Chloe blinks. "...what?"

Max throws up her hands. "It’s basically impossible to mock, insult or tease you! It's so easy for you to mess with me, but I can't...so now you're an adult! And I'm a teen, so...the age difference, see?"

Chloe stares at her. "What."

Max huffs in annoyance. "I need this, Chloe! Give me this one thing!"

Max buries her face in her arms again.

"This whole thing...this is about...are you kidding me?"

Max shakes her head without looking up.

Chloe stares at her for a moment, dumbfounded. There's all the things she said, with such sincerity, that Chloe nevertheless can't quite bring inside herself.

There's the doubt gnawing at her, that maybe she should ease up on the teasing. She doesn't want Max to ever feel insecure. She thinks that, maybe, she should try to be better about expressing her love for all the quirks and oddities that make Max who she is. Because all the shit she teases Max about? It's all just part of what makes her love Max so much.

But...right now, that's not what Max needs.

So.

Chloe lets out an exasperated sigh. "Max? Stop being such a brat."

Max slowly lifts her head, letting Chloe see a pair of wary eyes.

Chloe snorts. "Honestly, kids these days. You wouldn't catch me acting like that at your age."

Max's lifts her head all the way up, displaying the biggest, dorkiest grin Chloe's ever seen. She throws out her arms and yells, "You just don't understand what I'm going through!"

"Oh, please. I know exactly what it's like to be a teenager. You're exaggerating."

"No, it's been so long, how could you remember? You can't relate to me anymore, Chloe."

"Well, excuse me if I've been so busy putting a roof over your head that I can't follow your every tantrum!"

Max blinks, her grin fading. "Uh...wait. Are you pretending to be my parent now? Because...I really wanna kiss you and that makes me feel weird."

Chloe facepalms. "Max! This  _whole thing_  has been weird! All of it! Very weird!"

Max pouts. "Nuh-uh. You just don't get me 'cause you're old."

Chloe just stares at her until Max's composure cracks and she starts giggling. "That's okay. I love you for trying." She swoops in and kisses Chloe's forehead. "Actually, I just...love you. Full stop."

Chloe's heart lurches into high gear. "Yeah. Well, uh...no big deal! Uh..." Chloe swallows. "I...love you, too, Max. Even if this is my life for the next six months! Ah...you're not going to be like...this for the next six months, are you?"

Max smiles. She leans in and kisses Chloe for a long, lingering time. She pulls away, grinning, and says, "Happy birthday, Chloe Price!"

**Author's Note:**

> Thanks for reading! I hope you're all having a lovely day!


End file.
